Leo Santa Cruz vs. Abner Mares II

Staple Center, Los Angeles, June 9
TV: Showtime
By Peter Lim

Santa Cruz won a majority decision in 2015 in a fight so close it could have gone either way. Two things have transpired to tip the balance in Santa Cruz’s favor since then.
First, Santa Cruz has grown more due to a higher level of activity against a higher level of opposition. He fought four times, two against a fellow top-5 featherweight since their first encounter. Mares, on the other hand fought just twice during that same period.

Second, Santa Cruz has proven the propensity to learn from his mistakes and make the right adjustments in a rematch. He avenged his loss to Carl Frampton by fine tuning his strategy to turn the tables on Frampton when the met for a second time.

Santa Cruz is a tad smarter and sharper than Mares and makes the better decisions. He prudently picks his moments, out-boxing Mares when Mares opts to brawl and out-brawling Mares when Mares opts to box, winning a close but clear-cut decision in the 116-112 range.

Jermell Charlo vs. Austin Trout

The Staples Center, Los Angeles, June 9
TV: Showtime
By Peter Lim

The temptation in making a prediction here is to place too much emphasis on Trout’s decision loss to Jermell’s identical twin Jermall in 2016. But as all parties will attest, all three boxers in that triangle are not the same fighters they were two years ago. Since then, Jermall has moved up to middleweight, Jermell has three world title bouts under his belt and Trout, coming off the first stoppage loss of his career, has changed trainers.

Trout’s defense is slick but not impenetrable and he has the experience to rarely get hit by one clean shot at a time. But Jermell will quickly discover that when he catches Trout with the right, he is a sitting duck for a follow-up right. By the fourth or fifth round, Jermell begins landing the double right with virtual impunity.

Trout courageously returns fire but to no avail. Jermell continues to press the action, gets the better of the exchanges and mixes in left hooks and right uppercuts into his attack. In the seventh round Jermell connects with a double right that has Trout out on his feet. He pounces on Trout with a vicious two-fisted assault that has Trout reeling defenselessly around the ring, forcing the referee to step in and end the beating.